Barry Morell - Che gelida manina (Private recording, 1960),Dead Tenors’ Society

Barry Morell (1927-2003) was a greatly underrated American tenor who enjoyed a 30 year career in opera and concert. Born in Manhasset, NY, he began singing for his own amusement as a child. When Morell was 15, he was overheard singing in his workshop (the singer was an avid carpenter) by a visitor who suggested that voice lessons were in order. He trained as a baritone for a few years, appearing in high school productions and local musical programs. At 18, Morell was drafted and found himself stationed in Germany. He avoided Special Services (“Wear out your feet, not your vocal cords”, his teacher advised him) and joined the regular army. At the war’s end, Morell enrolled at Juilliard under the GI Bill. Unfortunately, he was soon hospitalized with pleurisy, which led to seven months of recuperation. After he recovered, he found that his voice was not behaving normally. He sought advice from Giuseppe Danise, who was not quite sure what to make of Morell’s voice. The famed baritone opined that it was something very special, however, and agreed to work with Morell. In the fall of 1948, the two began a 6½ year period of intensive study, with Morell emerging as a tenor. With Danise’s approval, he auditioned for New York City Opera, making his stage debut with the company on March 26, 1955 as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. That fall, the tenor went on a nationwide tour with NYCO, appearing in La Bohème, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Traviata and Madama Butterfly. Madama Butterfly served as the vehicle for Morell’s Metropolitan Opera debut on November 1st, 1958. Although he sang in Rome, London, Vienna, Barcelona, Santiago and Buenos Aires, Morell’s artistic home was the Met. During his 19 seasons there, the tenor sang over 250 performances of some 19 roles, in such operas as Rigoletto, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Forza del Destino, La Traviata, Tosca, La Bohème, La Gioconda, Carmen, and Faust. During his first decade with the Met, reviews were generally favorable. Musical America said of a March 1964 Yevgeny Onegin, “The best solo singing of the evening came from Morell in Act II, Scene 2”. As he approached the age of 50, however, some critics felt that the passing years had taken a toll on the tenor’s voice. Of Morell’s Valentine’s Day, 1979 Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, the NY Herald Statesman said, “He has not mellowed with age, but soured instead”. Following another Pinkerton on February 19th, 1979, Morell left the Met. He continued singing into the 1980s, mainly in smaller venues. Morell retired from the stage in 1986 and passed away from throat cancer at his Cape Cod home on December 4, 2003. Barry Morell has been the subject of much controversy among opera fans during the past forty or so years. There seems to be a division between listeners who opine that he was a very fine singer and musically sensitive artist who possessed a sturdy instrument and those who claim that he was an unsatisfying performer, whose thin, tiny voice couldn’t be heard over an orchestra. Certainly, Morell was not the possessor of a voice of heroic proportions. However, an artist with a voice as inaudibly small as claimed by the tenor’s detractors could scarcely have coped with the demands of singing in a house the size of the Met. A more honest and fair assertion is that Barry Morell was an inconsistent performer who had more than a few bad nights during the course of his 30 year career. While he never had the star power of a Corelli or a Tucker, Morell was the Met’s go to tenor for matinees, tours and short notice covers. In fact, about a third of his performances with the company were given on tour in Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Memphis and Toronto. Today, Barry Morell’s reputation lies mainly in his recordings, made for Westminster and RCA. These recordings reveal an exciting, lirico-spinto voice, surprisingly Italianate, with a robust middle range and focused top notes. Even Morell’s catalogue of recordings has been the subject of controversy. Self-styled critics have pointed out that a mediocre vocalist such as Morell could never have gotten a recording contract except via liberal doses of nepotism. A popular story has it that Morell’s father was an executive at RCA who used his influence to secure a recording project for his son. As Morell’s first recordings were made for Westminster, his father’s supposed connection to RCA would not have carried much weight. Besides, Morell’s father was in the garment business, NOT the recording business. Sadly, this story will continue to circulate, diminishing the reputation of a fine singer. Luckily, Morell’s recordings give listeners the opportunity to form their own opinions as to the tenor’s vocal artistry. Here, Morell sings “Che gelida manina” from Puccini’s La Bohème. This rare recording was made during a Goodspeed Opera House fundraiser in East Haddam, CT on January 10, 1960, with Sally Leff, piano.